Undergarment



Q March 9, 1943. YDER UNDERGARMENT Filed Jan. 2, 1941' Patented Mar. 9, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE UNDERGARMENT Paul Snyder, Baltimore, Md. Application January 2, 1941, Serial No. 372,919

3 Claims.

This invention relates to undergarments and more particularly to an undergarment intended to be worn by men, women or children, the garment constituting the subject matter of this invention being an improvement upon a similar garment disclosed in my co-pending application filed July 14, 1939, Serial No. 284,542.

One object of the invention is to provide a garment having front and rear sections so formed that they define leg openings at sides of the garment, upper ends of the two sections-being so connected with an elastic waistband that one section has its side portions overlapping the corresponding side portions of the other section and side edges of the overlapped portions extending diagonally of each other so that as the garment is pulled upwardly into place and the waistband enlarged by stretching the leg openings may conform to the shape of persons legs-and at the same time remain closed at their HDP ends- Another object of the invention is to so form the front and rear sections of the garment and so connect their upper ends with the elastic waistband that when the garment is drawn upwardly into place and the waistband stretched, the stretched waistband will have a tendency to exert upward ipull upon the garment and so lift its lower end or crotch portion that it will fit comfortably and remain in its proper position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment having a waistband capable of being adjusted for size and fit snugly about a persons waist when the garment is worn.

Another object of the invention is to so form the garment that front and rear sections thereof will be expansible transversely of the garment and a crotch portion between lower ends of the said sections expansible longitudinally of the sections, the said crotch portion being located toward the rear of the garment so that when it is stretched and then tends to contract its pull will tend to pull the lower end of the front section upwardly toward the rear and form a pocket of the front section.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment which is reinforced at its front and is of a simple construction and capable of being manufactulred at small cost and sold at a reasonable price.

With these and numerous other objects in view, my invention consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter referred to and more particularly pointed out in the specification and claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a view looking at the front of the garment;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the garment, the dot and dash lines indicating the stretched condition thereof;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken vertically through the garment along the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 3 and looking in the direction of the arrows A;

Figure 5 is a sectional View taken along the same line as Figure 4 but looking in the direction of the arrows B;

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken transversely through the garment along the line 6-6 of Figure 1;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional view upon an enlarged scale taken along the line T-'l of Figure 2; and

Figure 8 is a front View of a modified form of garment.

This improved undergarment has a front section I and a rear section 2, the two sections being formed of knitted fabric and tapered toward their lower ends to provide sections of triangular shape having their apexes directed downwardly. The rear section consists of a single piece of material but the front section consists of two pieces of material to provide inner and outer layers or plies I and l which are shown clearly in Figures 3 and 6. At their lower ends the two sections I and 2 are connected by a crotch section 3 which consists of two plies or layers of knitted fabric and is stitched along its upper and lower edges to the front and rearsections by lines of stitching The knitted fabric from which the front and rear sections are formed is so cut that the ribs thereof extend longitudinally or vertically of the garment whereas the ribs of the knitted fabric forming the crotch section extend transversely of the garment. Therefore, the front and rear section may bestretched transversely of the garment and longitudinal stretching will be prevented, whereas stretching of the crotch section longitudinally of the garment will be permitted and transverse stretching across the crotch prevented. Attention is called to the fact that the front section is somewhat longer than the rear section, thus causing the ICI'OtCh section 3, to be disposed toward the rear of the garment as shown clearly in Figures 2 and 3.

Upper edges of the front and rear sections are sewed along the lower edge of a waistband 5 formed of elastic fabric, and upon referring to Figure 1 it will be seen that the waistband extends entirely about the top of the garment with its ends overlapped at one side of the garment and detachab-ly secured by snap fasteners 6 so that the waistband may be adjusted for snug fit when the garment is worn. The side portions of upper ends of the front and rear sections permanently overlap at one side of the garment, as shown in Figure 3, and at the other side of the garment the side portions of upper ends of the front and rear sections will also overlap since ends of the waistband terminate flush with side edges of the two sections and overlapping must take place in order to engage companion studs and sockets of the snap fasteners with each other. It will thus be seen that leg openings 1 defined by the front and rear sections of the garment will be closed at their upper ends by the overlapped side portions of upper ends of the two sections i and 2. Referring to Figure 2 it will also be seen that when the garment is put on and drawn upwardly into place stretching of the waistband will exert upward lift at the lower end of the garment and form a pocket of the lower portion of the front section while at the same time the point at which the side edges of the two sect-ions cross each other will be shifted upwardly and the shape of the leg openings changed and cause these leg openings to conform to the shape of the upper portion of a person's leg. Therefore, the garment will fit comfortably when worn. Side edges of the front and rear sections are bound with strips 8 of knitted fabric having transversely extending ribs in order that the bindings may be stretched longitudinally or circumferentially of the leg openings and within the bindings are elastics 9 which extend entirely about the leg openings and are secured at their ends.

Reinforcing strips In which are formed of knitted fabric and have their ribs extending longitudinally are stitched against the outer face of the front section. These strips In diverge downwardly between the waistband and margins of the leg openings and serve very effectively to reinforce the front section. While the reinforcing strips have been shown curved longitudinally away from each other they may follow straight lines between the waistband and the leg openings or extend in straight lines from the waistband for a portion of their length and have their lower portions curved toward the leg openings.

In Figure 8 there has been illustrated an undergarment having a body formed in accordance with the disclosure in Figures 1 through '7, this body being provided with leg extensions l l which are formed of knitted fabric. The legs have been shown quite short but it is to be understood that they may be knee length or full length if so desired.

I have described hereabove the invention as being particularly applicable to an undergarment but, of course, it is understood that the same is equally well adapted to use in connection with swimming trunks or swimming suits including the trunk portion thereof. Thus, the essential and novel features of the invention are applicable to any close-fitting bifurcated garment.

From the foregoing description of the construction of my improved garment, the operation thereof and the method of applying the same to use, will be readily understood. It will be seen that I have provided a simple, inexpensive and efficient means for carrying out the objects of the invention and while I have particularly described the elements best adapted to perform the functions set forth, it is obvious that various changes in form, proportion and in the minor details of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the principles of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

l. A garment comprising front and rear sections tapered downwardly and formed of knitted fabric having longitudinally extending ribs to permit transverse stretching of the sections, a crotch strip connecting lower ends of said sections and formed of knitted fabric having ribs extending transversely of the garment to permit stretching of the crotch strip longitudinally of said garment, bindings for side edges of the sections having transverse ribs permitting longitudinal stretching of the bindings and enlargement of leg openings defined by said sections, and a waist band of material secured along upper ends of the said sections, the upper ends of the front and rear sections having their side portions overlapped to close upper ends of said leg openings, and the said side edges of the said sections having their upper portions extending diagonally across each other and free to have shifting movement relative to each other whereby the leg openings are automatically adjusted to conform to the shape and movement of the leg of the wearer.

2. A garment comprising front and rear knitted sections having side edges converging towards their lower ends, and a waist band secured to upper ends of the front and rear sections, said sections having side portions of their upper ends adjacent the waist band overlapped to dispose upper portions of the side edges of the front section in diagonally crossed relation to the upper portions of the side edges of the rear section, whereby the companion side edges of the said sections form leg openings at opposite sides of the garment closed at their lower ends and tapered toward their upper ends, the overlapped upper portions of the front and rear sections being shiftable transversely of each other to automatically adjust the dimensions of the leg openings and effect snug and comfortable fit of the garment to the leg of the wearer at all times.

3. A garment comprising front and rear knitted fabric sections having side edges converging toward their lower ends, a crotch strip of longitudinally stretchable material connecting lower ends of said sections, an adjustable waist band secured to upper ends of the front and rear sections, said sections having side portions of their upper ends overlapped to dispose upper portions of the side edges of the front section in diagonally crossed relation to the upper portions of the side edges of the rear sections whereby the companion side edges of the said sections form leg openings closed at their lower ends by the crotch strip and tapered toward their upper ends, and elastic bindings for side edges of the front and rear sections and the crotch strip stretchable longitudinally, the overlapped portions of the front and rear sections being shiftable transversely of each other to automatically adjust dimensions of the leg openings for conformation to and movement of the leg of the wearer.

PAUL SNYDER. 

